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The dean of Ohio State University’s medical school is leaving for a job in Florida.

Dr. Charles Lockwood, who has been at Ohio State for less than three years, accepted a job
leading the medical school and health system at the University of South Florida. His last day at
OSU will be May 4.

“My reasons to leave Columbus don’t have much to do with Ohio State. They’re really personal and
family,” Lockwood said. “I feel real mixed emotions leaving. I’m excited about the new job but sad
to leave here.”

He said he wanted to keep his reasons for leaving private.

Lockwood finalized the move the same week that Dr. Steven Gabbe –– who once mentored Lockwood at
the University of Pennsylvania –– announced that he is stepping down as the chief of the Wexner
Medical Center at OSU.

The timing is only coincidence, Lockwood said. “It really had absolutely nothing to do with
that; I mean really absolutely nothing,” he said.

Dr. Edmund Funai will serve as interim dean at OSU starting on May 5, according to a memo from
university and Wexner Medical Center leaders. Funai is now chief operating officer of the Ohio
State University Health System.

Ohio State hired Lockwood in 2011 from the medical school at Yale University, where he was
chairman of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

Demand to attend the medical school at OSU has grown since Lockwood took over. More than 5,500
students applied for 190 spots last year, an increase of about 25 percent since Lockwood was hired.
Classes have become more diverse, too: Of the incoming class, about 20 percent are minorities.

Lockwood led an overhaul of the curriculum at the school, which he hopes to use as a model for
South Florida. OSU’s medical school has attracted increased funding from the National Institutes of
Health under his leadership, and it has moved up in
U.S. News and World Report rankings.

Lockwood will start at South Florida on May 5, a day after he plans to attend graduation at the
Ohio State medical school.

“I wanted to give the diplomas to my last class here,” he said. “That will be a bittersweet day,
I’m sure.”